♪♪
[ Mid-tempo music playing ]
[ Music continues ]
-Alright.
Yes, it's end of class.
-[ Speaking indistinctly ]
-Alright. From here,
so, back line, just follow whatever the front line does.
Hopefully the front line will do the right thing.
And your necks to the other direction,
the other way.
My name is Brysen Angeles.
I go by B-boy "JustBe."
I'm a founding member of the Massive Monkees crew
from Seattle. Washington.
If you're not familiar with Massive Monkees crew,
we are a hip-hop group.
We got together in 1999 as a hip-hop group
and done a lot in between now -- then and now.
-♪ Buckle up, baby, and feel the bass ♪
♪ Denny's back, we're big, bad apes ♪
♪ Droppin' that quad for a dollar ♪
♪ And everybody wants to hear the big man holler ♪
-Aaaaaaaaaah!
-We started at Jefferson Community Center.
We were all pretty much middle school and high school.
-Jefferson Community Center was huge for the B-boy scene,
not just the crews who were there,
but just in general, for the B-boy scene in Seattle,
it was a place where everybody who came into town --
other B-boys from different areas would, you know --
the first question they ask is, "Where's the B-boys at?"
Jefferson became known as the place, the hub,
the mecca for B-boys in Seattle,
and the reason why that was was because
I think Fever One's first class
started at Mercy Middle School,
which is just a walk through a path,
and then you're from the after-school program
straight to Jefferson Community Center.
So, you know, pretty much everybody
would leave the program, go to Jefferson,
and continue practicing, continue dancing.
[ Indistinct conversation ]
I started dancing in '94.
Myself and another guy, Florentino,
who's a member of Massive Monkees,
went to South Shore Middle School.
His older brother, Rodrigo,
was a part of this crew called BOSS.
I kind of got introduced from watching Rodrigo.
Jefferson was where it was at.
BOSS was the first crew to get in there.
Fever introduced BOSS to breaking.
That's where they all went to break.
Fever and the rest of his crew, DVS, would come up
and kind of mentor all the BOSS heads,
and all the younger guys
would just kind of catch it secondhand.
So it was like BOSS was up there learning.
We were learning from BOSS.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
Early '90s, it was like all of the big battles
weren't happening at big event centers.
They were still happening at community centers and schools,
so South Shore Middle School,
Mercer's Gym,
and then other place where battles would happen
is Jefferson Community Center,
so that was, like, our practice spot all the time.
-I used to go to school, dream about breaking,
and look forward to going to Jefferson Community Center
like it was Disneyland.
-So, from Jefferson Community Center,
me and Lotuz would take the bus from Everett.
It'd be like a 2 1/2-hour ride one way,
and then we'd go to practice,
practice for like two or three hours.
-Many dancers, many crews at that time
in the Seattle B-boy scene --
they all pretty much quit or stopped or went otherwise,
and we were just kids
that wanted to continue to dance.
DVS Crew, who really were our mentors
and told us what positive hip-hop's about,
how to mentor other youth,
and how to become more than yourselves,
how to be become pretty much a positive role model
and an adult living in hip-hop.
It's not about the moves, you know?
I could teach you moves all day, but it's about being creative,
being yourself, learning confidence,
and learning how to express yourself through this art form,
in this really beautiful art form.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
First world championship title was in 2004
at Wembley Arena in London.
-For the 2004 World B-Boy Championship,
welcome back to the stage
supercrew the Massive Monkees!
[ Cheers and applause ]
And that in itself,
it was a 4-on-4 competition --
Twixx, JuseBoogy, Brysen, and myself --
and we battled several different countries
in order to win that.
And it was -- It was a huge --
it was one of the biggest competitions
at that time for us.
Yeah.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
-Stop!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Ladies and gentlemen,
your 2004
World B-boy Champion,
Massive Monkees!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah, it was a memorable moment, definitely, definitely.
-Once again, I want to thank you
for coming out to the 2004 World B-Boy Championships!
-When you talk about Seattle and breakdancing,
you're talking about the Massive Monkees.
The Massive Monkess have won world championships,
but they got their start
in the halls of Franklin High School.
And even today, they practice on Thursday nights
up at the Jefferson Community Center.
I've had a chance to go and visit,
and I see what a role model these young people are
for even younger children in our community.
They've done a great job over the years,
and they celebrate hip-hop and breakdance
in a way that makes us all very proud.
-2004, we got phone call, and they told us,
"Hey the Mary wants to give you your own personal day,
called Massive Monkees Day."
We're like, "Wow!"
You know, we're in our early 20s,
so we're thinking, "Whoa!"
So, it was such a big thing,
'cause we invited our friends and family,
and the mayor -- he was sitting down,
just watching us practice,
and a couple of minutes later,
he presented us a proclamation and read it to us,
and it was a -- it was a great moment for us
'cause it was something beyond just winning a competition.
It was about the community. It was about an achievement --
a special day for us and a special day for everybody.
Now Massive Monkees Day --
we start again at Jefferson,
and now, celebrating for 15 years now,
everybody from all over the world comes.
-So, Massive Monkee Day --
it's one of the biggest events of the year.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
It exposes the breaking scene to a lot of B-boys
that we otherwise wouldn't have seen.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Because it is a such an interna--
It's an international competition,
so international competitors come out.
And you get to see things that you don't see
locally all the time, which is really cool,
and it really brings back to the community.
I think that's what the biggest thing is.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's a high-caliber competition now.
The best of the best compete at our celebration.
-The whole reason that we do this event
is to celebrate the day
that the mayor of Seattle gave us in Seattle
for basically doing community service
and representing our cultures, our values, and our community.
-And the biggest part, I believe,
is why it's so successful --
it's not 'cause, you know, of what we've done,
titles we've won, and being on TV and so forth,
but our vibe.
Our vibe is family.
Our vibe is it's not just a celebration for Massive Monkees.
It's a celebration for everybody,
for all the B-boys, B-girls,
for family, for friends,
for people who don't even dance,
who just want to have a positive experience.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
-It is a competition,
but they're bringing back to the community
through Massive Monkee Day, through having the Beacon open,
and every other -- every other aspect of what they do.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
-We were imagining ourselves being a beacon,
so we ended up calling it the Beacon,
kind of in tribute to that, but we're here in the ID,
and it really is a great supportive neighborhood.
Before opening the studio,
we were looking at some different areas.
We knew we wanted to be in Seattle.
Beacon Hill was a big place we wanted, too, just because
that's the neighborhood where we really came up from.
But then we were made aware of this opportunity
to Storefront Seattle.
And what Storefronts is is a organization
that helps artists get into open storefronts that are unused,
and one of the major neighborhoods
that they are helping trying to develop is the ID.
So when we told Storefront Seattle
what what we were looking for,
it took a while for them to find a place.
But this was the place that popped up on the radar,
and they were able to actually help us get in here temporarily
to see if what we were talking about doing,
doing a dance studio/events space/creative space,
was going to be legitimate and able to do,
so we were given opportunity to kind of test it out
in this neighborhood.
This neighborhood turned out to be
just a great neighborhood to do it.
We're kind of central to a couple schools,
a couple community centers,
as well as all of the kind of community things
that happen in this neighborhood.
There's festivals all the time.
-You guys ready? -Yeah!
-They're working really hard right now.
They're putting out the energy. So, are you guys ready?!
[ Cheers and applause ] Here we go. 1, 2, 3.
Whoo-hoo-hoo! They're rockin'.
Make some noise for the volunteers.
[ Cheers and applause ] These guys.
[ Hip-hop music playing ] Ahh.
With the stadium down the street,
there's always people in this neighborhood,
an area with all the restaurants and things that happen here,
so for us to have a big, nice storefront
where people can see us doing it,
we've gotten a lot of eyes and ears
just through foot traffic and through people
who are in the neighborhood.
The other thing that we're doing this year
is our after-school program
in partnership with Extraordinary Futures.
There's a need for kids in this area
to have something to do.
So, you know, we get a lot of --
We're getting a great response at our after-school program.
-The after-school program is important
because it gives a chance
for the young people to explore their creativity
and also build positive adult relationships.
So whether that be us being there for them
just to talk and hang out
or even work on some moves
and, you know, learn new dance skills.
Growing up, I didn't have an after-school program,
and we didn't have anything like this.
So that's why it's important for us
to try to create that for them,
for the kids now coming up.
International District and South Seattle
has just really low-income families living here,
so, for there, I think we know a lot of those kids
need that support and that help
and that mentorship.
So that's why I believe it's important
to have that here for them.
Hip-hop and after-school communities,
they kind of go well with each other
because, well, for us, we use that as an engagement tool.
So we use it as a tool to engage with the youth,
to connect with them.
That's kind of why I feel it's important
and the two kind of just mend together here, you know?
-Breaking and hip-hop is a way to open up people
into thinking differently and thinking outside of the box.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Please make sure you are sitting on the orange line.
-Our kids' classes are huge here.
Our kids' breaking classes
and our toddler class, MiniBREAKS,
is probably the most successful class at the place.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
-When you kind of think about it initially,
it's like, "Oh, yeah, that age group
is too young to learn, you know?
They might get hurt easily.
Like, it's just too crazy for them."
But then if you really think about it,
it's like, "Wow, you know, these kids
had just started to learn to walk
and maybe talk, and they're like" --
I don't know -- they're not really scared of things yet.
They don't know things are scary, usually,
or most of the time,
so it's actually a great thing to introduce to them
so they could explore their bodies and moving
and also develop listening skills
and socialize with other kids.
[ Music continues ]
I know for a fact in Seattle
there's no other dance classes for this age group
that's for breaking.
For little kids, too, they just kind of want to go,
and at that time, they're really, really open
in that age group about, like, expressing themselves.
Like, as soon as they get comfortable, you're like,
"Oh, go do whatever," and they'll go do it.
So I really want to nurture that and nurture their creativity
and to let them know that they're being creative.
So, when I got into hip-hop,
I was very disenfranchised youth.
Didn't like school, didn't really like adults.
I didn't really feel myself going anywhere,
but hip-hop was really fun to me.
I wasn't -- I wasn't good in the beginning.
I was horrible at dancing, but I didn't care.
I loved it. I knew that if I practiced,
I would keep getting a little better.
If you want to try something, if you want to do something,
then, you know, just do it.
You might not be great at it in the beginning.
You might be horrible like how I was horrible.
But as long as you like doing it
and as long as you're consistent with practicing
and working at it, anything is possible.
Rule number 2 --
Rule number 2, my most favorite rule in the whole world...
And maybe, you know, it can make someone else
find hip-hop or breaking and use it as a tool
to become, like, social
or to realize that they can accomplish whatever they want.
[ Gasps ] Have fun!
That is my most favorite rule of all.
If you like to have fun, please raise your hand superhigh.
If you like to have fun...
And I see it happening in a lot of the kids,
but even if breaking or hip-hop isn't their thing,
I hope they, like, apply the same philosophy
to other things that they might end up loving.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
-At 19 years old, I started teaching
after-school programs.
I was teaching Denny Middle School
and Mercer Middle School.
What you guys want to add or take away.
-I went to Denny Middle School.
There was a class for breaking at the school,
and I just loved that class.
Took it, like, every day.
-Chest, hit, hit, hit.
-Back in 7th grade, I moved up here from Sacramento,
and my dad wanted me to get involved
in some after-school program.
-Denny Middle School! Give it up, y'all!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And he finally signed me up for breakdance.
I know it's kind of a -- It was new to me.
It was challenging.
I hated it at first,
but, after a while, I dominated my first move,
which is called the hand glide, and then from there,
this newly inspired confidence came out,
and so I just stuck with it.
-In the cafeteria at Denny, there was this group of dancers.
They were just practicing for a show,
and you see this one guy just staring at him
from the floor, and they were dancing on the stage.
So as I was watching for maybe a minute,
the guy that was directing turned around
and noticed that those little kids was looking
from the window.
So he gestured for me to come here, and I came.
He's like, "Alright. Well, do you like what you see?"
I was like, "Yeah. I don't really know
what I'm getting myself into, but yeah."
He said, "Would you like to join the class?"
And I was like, "Yeah."
I didn't know what I was about to do.
I didn't know what kind of dancing it was.
I just saw people on stage with a lot of body movement,
and I was like, "You know what?
I think I can see myself doing that."
About eight, nine years later, this is where I'm at now --
teaching my own classes,
spreading on the message that Jerome taught me.
-Well, Massive Monkees --
they're like my mentors in breakdancing,
and they're more than just mentors.
They're like family.
They help me with any problem in any way.
-It's definitely just probably the best experience
that I could have ever had, 'cause, you know, high school --
obviously, like, hard to find something to fit in,
and then, like, breakdancing --
I don't really have to fit in in school.
I fit in out here, you know?
And then I have, like, a different family, you know?
So I have my family, and then I have this family, you know,
and it's always great to be a part of, like, a big community.
-Jerome was always there to, like, guide us
into the right direction.
It wasn't just, like, the dancing.
It was like we connected on every level.
So it was like it was really cool to be connected
'cause all of us have the same passion for the same thing.
It helped a lot of, like, my friends.
You know, we all came from different backgrounds,
and it was like some tougher than others,
so it was it was really good to --
It's really positive.
Like, we all show each other love as a community.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
-These kids were improving tremendously,
and they'll do shows here and there, and that's great.
But I want a competition where they can build their character,
have something to look forward to, build their skills,
and also build teamwork, so I started doing battles.
All-out, last round!
It's going to be 8 to 10 minutes, all-out battle!
And that would set up a competition
and have them go at it,
and it was just amazing what potential
and that came out of that
and how they really took
themselves to the next level as a group,
as teamwork, and as individuals,
and I got to see leaders
and I got to see a lot of kids evolve.
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
Cleveland and Mercer to my right!
Cleveland, Mercer!
From that time, now seven different schools,
hundreds of kids now battle each other,
and we call it the Massive Break Challenge.
-We need one person to enter in the one-on-ones
to make it an even bracket.
-So it's been a very successful league now,
'cause my whole idea was
if basketball, soccer, football
can have games or have a league, why not breaking?
And so Massive Break Challenge is our official B-boy/B-girl
high school and middle school league.
So, as you know,
we have one more Massive Break Challenge next month,
and then we're going to the grand finale
where there's 800 people that's gonna watch you guys
at the Folklife Festival, Bagley Wright Theater, okay?
So, that's a big deal okay? That's a big deal.
Having Master Break Challenge at the Bagley Wright Theater,
a very professional theater and stage,
and happening during the Folklife Festival is...
a huge thing for the kids
because I will tell the kids, "Make sure you tell your mom.
Make sure you tell your dad.
Make sure you tell your brothers, sisters,
all your friends.
Make sure you tell your principal, your teachers,
people that you love, that you appreciate.
It's your time to shine and show off,
so they can acknowledge and see, "Wow.
This is why my kid is practicing in their kitchen floor
or practicing it in the hallways at school
or doing after-school programs,"
'cause they could see how big it is for them
and how professional it is.
Now you see a kid onstage.
That person is doing a solo in front of hundreds of people.
My goodness. That's gonna change that kid's life,
and I want parents to see that, I want teachers to see that,
so when they see a kid in a hallway...
banging the floor, they know why.
It's that kid that's being passionate.
It's that kid that could be the next world champion.
It's that kid that can change people's lives worldwide --
not just in the community but worldwide.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Well done, everybody! Thank you very much!
-I'm really grateful for Jerome,
for Massive Monkees, for the Beacon, the studio.
I think they're, like, really up there.
They're making the Seattle scene really big here.
-Yeah. It's having that grit.
No matter what, continue to move forward
and learn, learn, learn,
continue to be humble
and know that it's not just about us,
that it's about other people.
It's about impacting people with what we have
and how we can inspire others,
from little kids to adults.
It's for the friends and families,
for the City of Seattle.
It's for our students that we don't even know yet
that we're going to meet in the future.
-That's my goal and my treat, I think,
from doing classes, to get to pass that --
pass that opportunity on
to realize, you know, you should do what you love
and enjoy what you do.
-Being a part of hip-hop, Massive Monkees,
working with kids is what I love to do.
Helping them grow to dance life, just --
it completes me.
It makes me who I am.
-We've learned a lot through breaking --
just what it means to be a part of a team,
what it means to put your work and discipline into something.
to have goals, set goals, achieve goals,
to have a vision and bring your vision to life,
you know, what it means to love
and be passionate about something
and to not be fearful of moving forward
with the things that you love and are passionate about.
And so these are the things that we've learned through breaking,
so it's easy for us to teach and convey these messages
and share that through breaking.
That's our means of being able to explain what we mean
and for us to be able to, you know, share something
even bigger than just the dancer,
even bigger than just the hip-hop culture.
Those are the things that we're able to share through dance.
I really believe that it's endless --
There's endless possibilities with things
that we can continue to do even into older age,
where we're not able to compete at the highest level.
Who thought that we'd be here,
doing the things that we're doing now?
I think that there's always a progression of things
that we can do as long as we stay true to it,
love it, share it,
and I think those are the things that are keeping me --
keeping us and keeping me driven, yeah, to continue.
♪♪
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[ Music stops ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you!
[ Cheers and applause continue ]
[ Hip-hop music playing ]
♪ Hold it now ♪
♪ C-C-Come on, come on, come on ♪
♪ Hold it now ♪
♪ Another East Coast, Coast track, track ♪
♪ C-C-Come on, come on, come on ♪
♪ Another East Coast, Coast track, track ♪
♪♪